Chapter 331: The Bathing Scene

“Oh, gods, if this is how things are around here every day, I have no idea why anyone would ever join any other temple.”

Kerr’s words, spoken in a low moan, echoed Jadis’ own thoughts. She couldn’t help but let out a contented sigh of agreement from all three of her selves as she luxuriated under the devoted attentions of the priestesses. Jadis had been to a spa once or twice with friends, but the temple bathhouse blew those experiences completely out of the water.

When Aurea and the many beautiful priestesses with her had offered to pamper Jadis, the offer hadn’t been for her exclusively. All of Jadis’ companions had been included in the proposition, which was how what Jadis had assumed would be a quick and refreshing bath had turned into a truly decadent indulgence of catered grooming.

Kerr had, of course, showed no hesitation whatsoever to strip off her travel-worn clothes and practically launch herself at a trio of buxom priestesses. Not in a sexual way, thank D. If Kerr had still had her ritual-given dick and had tried to initiate anything, Jadis wasn’t sure what she would have been able to do to politely extricate herself from the ensuing orgy. Fortunately, her exuberant lover was in her natural, unaltered form, and she had simply focused on the opportunity to be waited on hand and foot.

Since Kerr had given herself over to the spa treatment without any issue, the rest of Jadis’ lovers had quickly followed suit. Seeing everyone partake, even shy and nervous Thea, Jadis saw no reason not to do so herself. She did, however, draw a few lines between herself and the priestesses.

Jadis did not let the women undress her. There was something intensely personal about the act of undressing someone that she couldn’t put into words, but Jadis knew that letting these virtual strangers do so would be a mistake. Maybe she was overthinking things; Jadis knew that in many cultures throughout history that servants dressed and undressed their noble employers. But Jadis wasn’t a noble, nor was she employing any of these women. The only people who Jadis ever let undress her, at least while conscious, were her lovers. So, even if the act was innocent, Jadis knew her bodies would respond to the situation in a way that she didn’t want them to at that moment. No need to give Aurea or any of her girls hope of something happening that Jadis had no intention of doing.

Getting naked in front of more than forty pairs of hungry eyes was still pretty wild, though. It was only through a supreme effort of will that Jadis was able to keep her lower bodies from responding to the attention, especially when she heard the stifled gasps that went around the room once she had taken her skirt-pants off.

What Jadis did indulge in, though, was letting the priestesses wash her bodies. The women who attended to her were reverential, practically worshipful in their actions. With three women to each of her bodies, including Aurea herself, Jadis was treated to an absolutely luxurious washing. Fortunately, none of the women tried to do anything untoward with their hands, even when they were washing Jadis’ more sensitive regions. To Jadis’ shock, she didn’t even feel her libido stir despite the gorgeous ladies attending to her. Their practiced touches were immensely relaxing, to the point that Jadis was fairly certain that they had to possess some kind of massage skill. Knots of tension in her muscles melted away, leaving her feeling more at ease than she would have thought possible when surrounded by a couple dozen naked women who were eyeing her like a slab of meat.

Well, maybe not a slab of meat. A divine slab of meat, if that were possible.

Looking around the large room while indulging in the attention of the priestesses, Jadis saw that everyone else was enjoying the treatment as much as she was, though maybe not so vocally as Kerr.

Two women were brushing Aila’s long red hair in a way that already had her beautiful locks shining as brightly as polished copper. Both were complimenting the arcanist excessively, though despite her blush Aila was doing an excellent job of maintaining her typical cool composure.

Eir was happily talking with three women who were washing her hair and feet, but unsurprisingly Eir was herself washing the third woman’s hair for her. From the way she was acting with the group, she got the feeling that Eir had simply slipped right into a ritual act of grooming that was hardly new to the cleric. Maybe she even personally knew those three priestesses?

Kerr was laid out on a wooden table made for the purpose and was happily enjoying an orc woman’s strong hands as she massaged her back and shoulders. Kerr’s tail wagged lazily back and forth as sighs and moans of contented enjoyment rolled out from between her parted lips.

Thea was already half submerged in one of the heated pools, her eyes roaming across the occupants of the room in that quiet yet intense way that Jadis knew meant the shy woman was excited. Two priestesses were sitting to either side of her, quietly talking to the guardswoman as they massaged her hands and fingers.

Sabina was sitting off to one side happily chattering with an elf who was talking back to her with an equal level of energy, which was pretty impressive. While the two women talked, a third woman was manicuring Sabina’s toes, only occasionally smiling and nodding as the two nattered on without pause.

Bridget still stood under the warm waters of the continually pouring waterfalls with her eyes closed, clearly just enjoying the feel of the running water. However, two priestesses were standing nearby, waiting for an opportunity to shower the taller, muscular orc woman with pampering attention.

Three gnome women had surrounded Sorcha and were giving her an obviously pleasurable rubdown with scented oils and soaps. If they noticed or cared about the fact that the goblin witch had a tracking manacle around one arm, they made no obvious sign, which Jadis was silently thankful for.

And finally, Alex. Alex was…

In all of the commotion Jadis had briefly lost track of her demonic ward. She had been hanging off Jay’s shoulders for most of the morning, but once they were in the bath the Demon had slipped off while Jadis had removed her clothes. Now that she was looking around, Jadis saw what had happened to Alex and the sight made her brows pinch in worry.

Alex was standing off to one side, near the flowing water intended to wash off any dirt or grime. She had removed the little clothing she wore, probably because she’d seen Jadis do so, and was standing in that one spot, still as a statue. The only part of her that was moving were her eyes, which tracked the nervous movements of three women who were standing slightly apart from the Demon.

Two of the priestesses were elves and the third was a human. All three were just as beautiful as any of the other women in the room, but their looks were slightly marred by the obvious fear coloring their expressions and body language. The three were anxiously whispering to each other, occasionally tossing glances towards Alex, though a few were also directed towards Aurea. Jadis surmised that these priestesses had drawn the short straw, so to speak, and had been assigned to attend to Alex by the high priestess. Clearly, they weren’t thrilled with the prospect.

As Jadis watched, one of the elves, a svelte woman with lavender skin tones, was discretely pushed forward by the other two. The elf took a deep breath, plastered on a professional smile, and approached Alex while carrying a soft cloth and a lump of floral-smelling soap.

Alex loomed over the elf, her feet hanging off the ground by more than a foot as she balanced on the three long, thick tentacles that sprouted from the backpack-like lump her second set of arms extended from. Her ink-black form was a dark blotch in the white marble room and despite how well lit the bathhouse was, Alex’s three neon eyes glowed ominously against her face.

From experience with the Demon, Jadis knew that Alex was remaining completely motionless because she didn’t want to make any sudden movements that might startle the elf approaching her. But from an outside perspective, Jadis could easily see that the motionless nature of the demon was just freaking the poor priestess out even more than she already was.

When the priestess came to a stop before the Demon, she opened her mouth as though she were going to offer to wash Alex’ back for her. However, no sound came out as the woman tried and failed to get her voice to work. As she stood there, barely managing a squeak, Alex acted first.

“Hello… Sister… Adela…”

Jadis wasn’t surprised that Alex had known the priestess’ name. The paladin had amazing senses, made more powerful by her Expanded Awareness skill. No doubt she had overheard the three women talking and had put together the context clues to get the elf’s name. Considering Jadis had always been careful to teach Alex people’s names, it made sense that the Demon had greeted the priestess the way she had.

Unfortunately, the attempt at a friendly greeting had the opposite of its intended effect. The elf let out a terrified, barely suppressed yelp of alarm before turning tail to run back to the two other women who had pushed her forward. However, she barely got two steps before her nose bumped into a hard, flat surface and she let out another yelp, this one of surprise.

“Sorry,” Dys said as she put a hand on the purple elf’s shoulder to steady her from having run her face into her abs. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Why don’t you let me have that, okay?” Jay asked sweetly but firmly as she took the cloth and soap from the elf’s unresisting hands.

“Ask your friends to bring us some more cloths and maybe some of those scented oils, okay?” Syd winked at the priestess while the woman just nodded dumbly, her mouth hanging open slightly as she stared up at three towering Nephilim. “Thanks a bunch!”

Not waiting for a further response, Jadis approached her demonette paladin. She had moved quickly, completely abandoning Aurea and the group of priestesses who had been attending her. The attention had been nice, but Jadis wasn’t going to let Alex feel excluded from the spa treatment. And if none of the holy women had enough guts to approach the Demon, Jadis would happily take the task on herself.

“Hey Alex,” Jay smiled down at the Demon who, with her elevated tentacles, wasn’t that much shorter than her. “Do you mind if I help give you a wash?”

Alex was silent for a drawn-out moment, long enough that Jadis wasn’t sure if she had understood the question. Then Alex smiled widely, showing all of her white teeth.

“Yes… Please…”

“Good,” Jay grinned back, then helped the Demon to step over to the cascading waterfalls.

Once Jadis had guided Alex to step under the warm water and get herself thoroughly soaked, she had the paladin take a seat on one of the stone benches that were set up around the room to let people sit while they washed their bodies. The benches were too small for Jadis, so she knelt down directly on the stone floor, with Dys on the left, Syd on the right, and Jay directly in front of Alex. The marble was cool, but not uncomfortable, and with how high her Fortitude stat was, the hard surface didn’t really bother her.

Using the soap and cloth to get a nice lather going, Jay passed the soap over to Dys and then ran her hands through Alex’s head tentacles.

Alex didn’t have hair. Her head tentacles approximated hair since they were short and thin, but they wriggled and moved with the same prehensile ability as the rest of the Demon’s longer tentacles. Jadis didn’t even think Alex sweated, but personal hygiene was something she wanted to reinforce with her not-so-little demonling. She didn’t want anyone to toss around any accusations of Alex being unclean, after all. Besides, Besides, the wash was a good way for Jadis to run her hands through the fascinating little tentacles without being sexual.

While Alex’s main body held completely still, her head-tentacles slowly shifted and moved in response to Jay’s touch. They wrapped around her fingers, sliding between them, stroking her digits and palms in a way that was almost erotic and also extremely alien. Alex’s big, neon-blue eyes stayed locked onto Jay’s face, unblinking even when some of the soap suds dripped down across her brow and got into her forehead eye.

“Hey, doesn’t that hurt?” Jay gently asked as she wiped the soap away from Alex’s middle eye.

“Yes…”

“Well, if it hurts, don’t let it just happen, okay?” Jay said with a small frown. “I don’t ever want you to be hurt. At least say something, alright?”

“Alright…” Alex agreed without further comment.

As Jay worked on Alex’s more human side, Dys and Syd worked on her demonic features, starting with her three giant tentacle limbs. Washing them was an interesting experience. Running her soapy hands over the long, thick tentacles let her feel just how strong and muscular the appendages were. Jadis was certain that even if the System that granted classes and attributes didn’t exist, the Demon’s tentacles would still be strong enough to crush bones in their grasp. There was also something strangely… exotic about the feel of the limbs that gave Jadis flashbacks to some of the more perverted pornography she had perused back in her life on Earth.

“Ahem,” a delicate voice cleared their throat just behind her trio of bodies.

Since at least one of her was facing that direction, Jadis knew it was Aurea who had approached. The nude high priestess was carrying a few more of the washcloths, as well as what looked like a bottle of scented oil. Jadis didn’t take her eyes off her task though, instead focusing on thoroughly washing her Demon friend, who as far as Jadis could tell was absolutely loving the attention.

“Yes?” Dys asked curtly, her tone even and without inflection.

“I… apologize on behalf of my sisters. They did not mean to give any offense to you or your… companion. Would it be alright if I assisted you in washing Alex?”

So, the woman was extending an olive branch. Whether she would have or not if Jadis hadn’t taken the first step, she wasn’t sure. But the offer seemed genuine and if Jadis wanted others to start seeing Alex as a person, not a monster, she would have to encourage moments like this, even if Jadis was fairly certain the high priestess’ motivation had more to do with Nephilim than Demons.

“I’m not the one to ask,” Dys finally said as she moved to wash Alex’s left-most large tentacle. “It’s Alex who makes the decisions on who touches her body.”

Aurea absorbed that statement for a moment before walking around the side. With her hands clasped before her, she bowed slightly and addressed the Demon directly.

“May I also wash you, Alex?”

Alex’s eyes flicked between the blonde woman and Jay. Alex made no outward expression, so it was hard to know what thoughts were going through her head. But with her hands still in her tentacle hair, Jay did notice that Alex squirmed and flexed in a particular way. Maybe that was an indication that she was thinking?

“Yes…” Alex finally said, though she didn’t smile at Aurea the way she had for Jadis.

Aurea smiled at the Demon, which prompted a smaller, echoing smile from Alex, then went back around to stand between Dys and Syd. Pouring some of the oil onto one of the cloths, the buxom woman applied it to Alex’s middle tentacle with a surprising lack of hesitation. The oil smelled faintly of clover mixed with something sharp and it quickly absorbed into the Demon’s smooth black skin.

“Try some of this,” Aurea suggested while passing the bottle to Syd. “It’s good for the skin and helps keep it from drying out.”

“Thank you,” Syd smiled as she took the proffered ointment. “Maybe I should use some myself.”

Aurea let out a pleasant laugh as she confidently rubbed Alex’s middle tentacle.

“One such as you would have no need. At least, not according to all the old stories about your ancient kin. Nephilim are blessed with perfect, unchanging beauty by our Lady. I may need to worry about skin care, but you should not. Though, now that I think on it, I’m not entirely sure if a Demon would need to worry about such things, either.”

Syd smiled at the woman who had been brave enough to take the next step following her path.

“Who knows? But at least I think Alex likes it.”

“Yes…” Alex interjected, a grin spreading across her face. “Thank you… Jadis… and… Aurea…”

“You’re welcome,” all three of Jadis responded at once, with Aurea responding the same in almost the same instant.

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